34 wanted immigrants arrested in Annapolis, on Eastern Shore

Kevin Rector, The Baltimore Sun

Thirty-four immigrants who had been convicted of crimes and were wanted by law enforcement agencies were arrested this week in Annapolis and on Maryland's Eastern Shore in a two-day "targeted enforcement operation" involving federal immigration officials.

The operation, which concluded Tuesday, involved the arrests of two people who'd reentered the United States after having been removed previously, as well as the arrests of individuals convicted of drunken driving, drug possession, theft, robbery, and escape from jail, officials said.

Calvin McCormick, Baltimore field director for "removal operations" under U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, touted the arrests in a statement Wednesday as the result of an "ongoing commitment to protect public safety with a focus on the arrest and removal of convicted criminal aliens and those that game our nation's immigration system."

Federal officers "will work tirelessly to pursue leads in locating, apprehending and removing these at-large criminal aliens and repeat immigration violators from our Maryland communities that have blatantly disregarded the law," McCormick said.

Nine were arrested in Annapolis, three in Queen Anne's County, 11 in Talbot County, 10 in Wicomico County and one in Worcester County, officials said.

Of the 32 men and two women arrested, fifteen are from Mexico, eight from Guatemala, four from El Salvador, four from Honduras, one from Ecuador, one from Trinidad and one from the United Kingdom, officials said.

All those arrested face either deportation or deportation proceedings before an immigration judge, according to Nicole Navas, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman.